Tori's Little Helper
by Renthead015
Summary: Cat's going to have a Christmas party and everyone's invited, but will Tori end up having to help Jade and Beck with their relationship again? She might just need a Christmas miracle...or decoration? This is a one-shot involving Catorade friendship and some Jori goodness.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious or anything pertaining to the show.**

"Tori!"

Tori Vega looked up from her book bag at the sound of Cat Valentine calling her name. Cat made her way to Tori's locker in a hurry and was almost breathless.

"What's up Cat?"

Cat pulled a small package out of her backpack and handed it to Tori. "You have to come to my Christmas party," she said.

Tori looked at the box curiously. "Okay, but what's this?"

"It's like a candy gram. It's an invitation to my party and it's got candy inside of it."

"Are you trying to get people to go to your party by bribing them with candy?"

"Of course not," Cat said defensively. "Why? Do you think that'll work?"

Tori rolled her eyes at the naive redhead. "I was just kidding Cat. Lots of people will want to go to your party. Plenty of people love parties and some people love Christmas."

"Yay for Christmas."

Tori smiled at Cat's childish behavior. She grabbed whatever books she needed then put her book bag away and closed her locker door. As she turned back towards Cat she noticed Jade West at her locker.

"Hey Cat, are you inviting Jade with a candy gram?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I just wasn't sure if that would make her want to go. She likes dark and scary things."

"Oh. Everybody loves candy though," Cat rationalized.

"That's true. Well there she is," Tori pointed in Jade's direction, "if you want to give it to her now."

Cat turned and spotted Jade at the same time that Jade spotted her. Jade looked from Cat to Tori suspiciously. Cat had a huge smile on her face and started to make her way toward Jade when she suddenly turned and walked in the opposite direction away from her locker and the two girls who were up to something.

Tori watched Cat turn and face her. She looked confused and slightly sad.

"Don't worry about it Cat. It's early so you probably just spooked her with your cheerfulness."

Cat gasped as if she was surprised she could scare anyone.

"I mean…I was just kidding. I think I remember her mentioning having to see Lane or something early this morning. Anyway, you can catch her later."

This seemed to ease Cat's sadness. She smiled and thanked Tori before skipping away to give out more invitations. Tori smiled until Cat was out of sight then she scowled in the direction Jade had walked off in. She decided to find Jade before Cat did.

/ / /

It didn't take Tori long to find Jade; there weren't many places she could hide this early in the morning. The black box theater was empty for the first two periods of the day so it was ideal. Jade was sitting in the first row of chairs set up in the room. Jade turned at the sound of the door opening as Tori entered.

"Are you stalking me now?"

"Come on Jade. What was all that about?"

"All what?" Jade asked as she stood up while Tori approached her.

"You know what I'm talking about. You just ran away from Cat. Why?"

"Maybe I didn't want to be bothered with whatever she had to say. She can be a little exhausting at times."

"You have put up with a lot worse from Cat than an exhausting conversation. Besides something tells me you knew why she wanted to talk to you. Did you run away so she wouldn't invite you to the Christmas party?"

"No. Why would I do something stupid like that?"

"Is there some reason you don't want to go to this party?"

"No! Why wouldn't I want to go?"

"Obviously somethings going on and I'm not leaving until you tell me." To prove her point Tori sat down in front of Jade and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Jade rolled her eyes, "Fine. I don't want to go to the stupid party and I don't know how to tell Cat."

"Aha!"

"Yeah you got me. Can we go now?"

"Not until you tell me why."

"Come on Tori."

Tori just sat there as she arched one brow in question. Jade let out a heavy sigh and sat down next to Tori.

"It's just," she started, "…I don't really know where my relationship with Beck stands right now."

"What do you mean? I thought you guys were back together."

"We are it's just…"

"Did you two get in a fight or something?"

"No. And that's the problem. We don't fight at all."

"So…you'd rather be fighting with him?"

"Yes. No. I don't know."

"I'm confused."

"Well good because so am I. I mean it's not like I want to fight all the time it's just that we don't fight about anything anymore. We're always walking on egg shells around each other. He always wants to please me and I want the same thing. It's as if we're afraid of breaking up again even though nothings wrong."

"You guys _just_ got back together. It takes time to get back to normal if you've been broken up for such a long time. It's almost like it's a new relationship rather than another shot at an old one."

"I'm trying to see it that way but I can't help but think that it's too different. Maybe there's a reason we stayed broken up so long. In that time we both changed, and while it was for the better maybe it wasn't for our relationship. Maybe we weren't supposed to get back together no matter how much we missed what we had."

"So you don't want Cat to invite you to the party so you don't have to go with Beck?"

"You could say that. I don't want to see all the lame people we go to school with either though. I mean did you know Trina was invited. Oh man, if she knew how I was feeling she'd be on Beck in a hot second."

"And how does it make you feel knowing that?"

"Are you my therapist now Dr. Vega?"

"No. I just want to know do you feel any jealousy at the thought of Trina throwing herself at Beck?"

"Of course not. He wouldn't even give her the time of day; why would I be jealous of that?"

"How about the thought of him dancing with another girl if you don't go to the party?"

"I'm not jealous okay. I'm pretty secure in what I've got."

"Maybe it's not about how secure you are. Maybe it's that you don't care as much about Beck as you thought you did."

"Of course I care about him."

"Yes, but maybe you care about him in more of a friendly way rather than a boyfriend/girlfriend way."

"Are you suggesting we break up?"

"I'm suggesting you have a talk with him about these _feelings_ and see if he feels the same way. You can't drag out this relationship if it has no meaning otherwise you'll both regret it."

Jade nodded, "I'd hate to admit it but I think you might be right." Jade thought for a moment before adding, "I'll deny it if you tell anyone I said that."

Tori smiled and pressed her pointer finger and thumb together to make a zipping motion across her lips and said, "My lips are sealed."

/ / /

Cat had eventually given Jade her invitation and Jade agreed to go. Tori and Jade had also agreed to help Cat decorate for the party. While Tori had convinced Jade she needed to talk about her feelings with Beck, Jade had avoided the conversation all week. Tori kept telling her that the more she put it off, the worse it would be in the end. Jade chose not to listen.

"Why do it before the party?" Jade asked. "Then if he doesn't have a good time or decides not to go it'll be all my fault."

"If you keep pretending everything's fine you're misleading him," Tori responded. "You need to tell him so that you guys can work on it."

"You and I both know that's not what's going to happen. We're just going to end up breaking up again and then people are going to label us the 'On-again Off-again Couple,'" Jade argued.

"Alright," Tori lifted her hands in surrender. "It's your relationship. I can't tell you what to do."

"Thank you."

Jade and Tori showed up two hours before the party to help Cat decorate that weekend. Cat excitedly gave them streamers and garland and gave them instructions to fill as much space as possible. They quickly got to work and had almost finished decorating when Cat decided to put some of the snacks in the oven.

"So," Tori started after Cat left the room, "is Beck coming tonight?"

"I'm not having this conversation."

"What conversation? I just wanted to know if he was coming or not. I didn't know if you guys were coming together or…"

Jade jumped off of the stool she had been using to hang some garland. "Oh so you weren't interested in whether I had talked to him or not."

"No. I genuinely want to know if he'll meet up with you later."

"You know what? No. He's not going to meet up with me here tonight and I don't know if he's even coming."

"Wait. Why wouldn't he tell you-"

"Look I took your advice because I figured that you were right, you know. I couldn't keep my feelings to myself because that completely goes against the whole honesty part of a relationship. I thought that I would tell him how I felt and maybe if he wanted to break up it would be on good terms and we could be friends."

"I take it that's not how it happened."

Jade just glared at her.

"Come on Jade. Tell me what happened. He couldn't have taken it that bad."

"He was _**pissed**_! It seemed like a good idea to tell him but apparently he thought we were perfect. He didn't understand why I was complaining about _not_ fighting with him when our fighting is what made us break up before."

"But didn't you explain it to him."

"I did. The same way I explained it to you but he just didn't get it. Now he won't even talk to me and I don't know if it means we're broken up or not."

"Well I'm sorry I…I really thought it would help. I mean you couldn't just keep up a facade when you were with him. You both should be comfortable in the relationship and he should understand that."

"Obviously he didn't think it was a problem. He didn't even commend me for being honest with him."

"Let me talk to him."

"Thanks, but I think I can handle him myself." Jade picked up the stool and walked out of the room.

"Jade, I'm sorry," Tori called after her. She wasn't sure if Jade had heard her or not.

/ / /

As people arrived Cat passed out candy canes to welcome her guests. Jade hadn't said a word to Tori since their earlier discussion and Tori felt horrible. She had probably helped in the demise of Beck and Jade's relationship and she needed to do some serious damage control.

"Hey Tori!" Cat called out as she made her way to Tori who was by the punch bowl.

"Cat, it looks like everything's going smoothly. People are already enjoying themselves and they just got here."

"Yeah!" Cat giggled, "I wonder…"

Tori waited for her to continue but it seemed as if Cat was lost in her thoughts. "You wonder what?"

Cat giggled again, "I have a secret."

"Come on, Cat. I helped you decorate so why don't you fill me in on whatever is going on in your mind."

Cat smiled with her lips pressed together tightly. "Mmmmm…Okay. I'll tell you but don't go around spreading the word. It's better for people to be surprised."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"So…I may have put some mistletoe out somewhere."

"You didn't."

"I did," Cat nodded and giggled.

"You devious little red head."

Cat's smile faltered, "What?"

"Oh I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's an awesome idea." Cat smiled in relief. As Tori smiled at Cat to reassure her, her eyes caught sight of Beck walking in the front door. "Hey, Beck made it!"

Cat turned to see him, "Yay! I'll go give him a candy cane."

As Cat walked away Tori watched Beck slowly make his way into the crowd of people. She had to think of something to do to get him to talk to Jade and understand her argument.

That's when it hit her. All she had to do to get them to talk was to at least break the ice, and what better way to do that than using Cat's sneaky tactics. If Beck and Jade happened to be under the mistletoe, for the sake of holiday spirit and peer pressure they would have to kiss. When they kissed each other they would probably feel lust and maybe, just maybe decide that it's time to get over their stupid little argument.

The ever-present pang of emotion at the thought of having to watch Beck and Jade kiss right in front of her again occurred right on cue. Tori wasn't sure if she was jealous or heartbroken and she wasn't sure why. As usual she downplayed it as her own loneliness and brushed it off.

She knew where Beck was but now she had to find Jade and convince each of them to meet up under the mistletoe at the same time.

"Hey Cat!" Tori called out to the receding figure of the petite redhead. She also had to find out where Cat had hung the mistletoe.

/ / /

Tori waited by the punch bowl for both Beck and Jade. She had sent each of them a text asking them to meet her by the punch bowl but the chances of Jade actually complying were pretty slim. She noticed Beck walk into the room and look in her direction, so she waved at him. He waved back wearily and made his way toward her.

After some persisting, Cat had finally told Tori that the mistletoe was next to the punch bowl. She thought it would get more action there and it would definitely catch everybody off guard if they stood under it. Tori had her own theories of why mistletoe next to a punchbowl was probably a bad idea. Maybe somewhere less public so that you would be less likely to end up kissing someone you'd rather not. Of course Cat didn't see the negative side at all.

Beck had finally made it to the punchbowl and Tori made sure she was standing a few feet away from him. She smiled at him.

"Beck, I wasn't sure if you were coming."

"Well you asked me to meet you here, so naturally, I was curious."

"I mean I didn't know if you were coming to the party or not."

"Of course. I couldn't miss Cat's party; it would probably break her heart."

"So you're cool with being here. You're not angry at all."

"If this is about Jade, I've already said my peace and I'd rather not discuss it with you. I know you probably want to play hero and save the day, but you can't always be their to 'fix' our relationship. If we can't deal with our own issues, then what's the point?"

"Is that really how you feel?" Beck and Tori turned to see Jade had made her way over to the punch bowl.

"Yes, that's how I feel," Beck answered.

Tori looked up at the mistletoe and noticed that the only one standing under it was Beck. Jade was standing too far away from Beck to be under it. Tori had to figure out a way to get Jade to inch closer to Beck for her plan to work. Maybe she should scoot closer to Jade; that might get her to move.

"Well if you feel that way, then why is it that when I expressed my _honest_ feelings to you, you got angry with me."

"Because it's stupid. You're complaining about us _not_ fighting. How does that make sense?"

Tori moved closer to Jade. Jade didn't move.

"_Stupid_? Really? _My_ feelings are stupid and you're always right, is that it?"

Tori inched a little bit closer and Jade shifted her weight from one foot to the other causing her to lean closer to Tori.

"You're feelings aren't stupid it's just this idea you have that we should fight more is stupid."

"I'm not saying I want to fight with you all the time, I'm saying we should disagree more. We need more conflict in our relationship otherwise it's just boring. We can't both like all of the same things otherwise that just makes us the _same_ person. There's no contrast."

Tori had moved so close she was practically touching Jade. Jade stayed put. Beck noticed someone reach for a cup close to the punch bowl and he moved to let him get some punch. He was no longer under the mistletoe and Tori let out a frustrated sigh, this was not going as planned at all.

"Maybe contrast isn't the problem," Beck suggested.

"What do you mean?" Jade asked in confusion.

Tori decided she was still going to get Jade under the mistletoe, she could work on Beck after. She shifted a little bit so that her arm brushed Jade's and this caused Jade to scoot closer to the punch bowl.

"I _mean_ we both obviously changed in the months that we were broken up. Maybe we matured to a point where we don't even fit well together anymore. We're not compatible anymore."

"So you're saying we should break up _again_."

Tori shifted toward Jade once again causing her to stand right in front of the punchbowl.

"I'm saying," Beck started, "Maybe we shouldn't have gotten back together. We were getting along fine when we weren't together, and even though we tried being together again…it just feels…different."

"Yeah, it does."

"I still care about you Jade, but maybe friendship is all that works for us now."

Jade looked pensive for a moment before she smiled up at Beck. "You know what, I agree. I don't know why, but I think it's time for me to find someone else to keep up with me."

"Whoever that person is won't realize how lucky they are to have you," Beck smiled.

Tori looked back and forth between the two former lovebirds. Before she even realized what was happening Beck walked off to join the mass of people in the other room. She couldn't believe it, her plan hadn't worked at all and now Beck and Jade were broken up for good. Her heart fluttered at the prospect and she tamped it down with all the morals of a good friend.

"But," Tori started, "…you can't just let him walk away."

"What exactly were you trying to accomplish here Tori?"

"Not this," Tori motioned toward the room Beck had walked. "I was hoping you two would reconcile."

"Why are you so obsessed with our relationship?"

"It's not your relationship _per se_; it's what your relationship represents. You know, happiness."

Jade scoffed, "Hardly. At one point maybe but lately it's just been…_meh_."

"I just want you to be happy Jade and it seems like you're at your happiest when your with Beck."

"We can be friends and be happy."

"Yeah but-"

"But nothing, Tori. There's no going back now."

"I know, I don't know why I'm still trying. It's your life not mine. I guess I just thought that by standing under the mistletoe, you guys would have some revelation or something."

Jade looked confused, "What mistletoe?"

"The one that Cat hid to surprise people right…" Tori trailed off as she looked up to see that she and Jade were standing directly under the mistletoe. "…there."

Jade looked up at the green "plant" hanging from the ceiling then looked back at Tori with a smirk. "You thought a flimsy, little piece of plastic was going to change _everything_."

"Well when you say it like that, it sounds kind of stupid."

"That's because it is."

"It was a great plan."

"Forced intimacy because of some stupid tradition? Yeah, I'll pass."

"Fine it was an outrageously flawed plan but that doesn't mean it wouldn't have worked on someone else."

"Yeah maybe someone naive enough to believe in crap like that."

Tori just glared at Jade. She turned toward the punch bowl, suddenly deciding that she was thirsty. She pulled a cup out of the stack next to it and was about to grab the ladle when Jade spoke again.

"You know there's know use in wasting it."

Tori was about to ask how it would be possible for her to waste the punch when Jade suddenly grabbed Tori's arm. Tori twisted to face Jade and Jade grabbed the back of Tori's head. Before she realized what was happening Jade had locked her lips onto Tori's causing Tori to loosen her grip on her cup and drop it in the punch bowl.

The kiss was quick and simple. Little more than a peck but enough to leave you wanting more. And did Tori want more. More indeed, but it was over before she could get it.

Jade pulled away smiling at Tori. "Merry Christmas," she said right before she walked away.

Tori was left dumbfounded. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't do much of anything besides watching Jade sashay away from her. When she finally lost her in the crowd of people Tori turned back to the punch bowl suddenly wishing there was alcohol in it. She would definitely need a drink to calm her down after that. Now she just had to fish her cup out of the bowl.

**The End.**

**A/N: I'm back! Well at least for this one story. This is definitely only a one-shot; I will not be adding on to it at all. I'm still writing another fic in another fandom but Jori always seems to be on my mind so I needed to get something out there. I almost posted a Halloween fic, but that story never got finished and it sucked anyway.**

**I wanted to do a Christmas themed story no matter what though and my goal was to get it out before Christmas so here it is. I know mistletoe is the most clichè Christmas thing out there but I wanted to be part of that cliché. I love mistletoe. It's always bringing people together. It's the best thing when you need an excuse for people to kiss but can't figure out how to do it (even thought Jori needs no motivation).**

**I also wanted to explore the Catorade friendship. I don't usually deal with Catorade but it is one of may favorite relationships on the show. The Catorade friendship has all the goodness of Jori with an added quirkiness because of Cat. You've got to love them.**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time…**


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